Snow Canyon State Park was established in 1959 and is surrounded by lava flows and beautiful colored sandstone cliffs. We thought it was one of the most unique places to visit near St. George. With over 38 miles of hiking trails, a bike path and equestrian trails there were plenty of activities to choose from. The state park website explains that "approximately 1.4 million years ago, and as recently as 27,000 years ago, nearby cinder cones erupted, causing lava to flow down these canyons, filling them with basal." It was truly an incredible landscape. Here were some of our favorites things we did:
This short trail in the main part of the park was a great place to start. It was a little over a mile of mostly climbing over the petrified mounds (some of which were steep so we advise good gripping shoes). Downloading the trail map ahead of time was helpful since there really weren't signs to show the way. We were greeted by a beautiful rock wren singing robustly to us as we began the hike.
We were glad we followed the advice of other hikers and continued past the descent to the sandy trail that intersected with the Red Sands trail. Straight across from that we climbed up to the observation point which had some of the best views in the park. The contrasting colors were just stunning.
This was a 3.1 mile loop with lots of trail options here so it made it nice to just select which ones we wanted to do and how long we wanted to go. Downloading several of the trails ahead made that a lot easier!
One of the most unique things we saw on this trail was the large lava tubes, especially the one we were able to climb down into!
Biking!
We loved spending one afternoon renting e-bikes and exploring not only the three miles of paved trail but the main gravel path. There were a number of options for bike rentals listed on the state park site. We had fun stopping at the sand dunes area to put our feet in the soft red sand.
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